Man arrested after antisemitic abuse targeting Jewish family on London train

The unnamed suspect was held in Birmingham on Saturday night on suspicion of committing a racially aggravated public order offence, reports confirmed.

He was arrested after a video which surfaced online showed him reading anti-Jewish passages from the Bible passages to a visibly Jewish family wearing skullcaps on the train.

The verbal attack prompts other passengers, most notably  hijab-wearing Muslim woman, Asma Shuweikh, to intervene in defence of the Jewish family.

“I would have loved more people to come up and say something, because if everyone did, I do not think it would have escalated in the way that it did,” the mother-of-two told PA news agency, adding that when she saw what was happening she knew she “had to confront him”.

“Being a mother-of-two, I know what it’s like to be in that situation and I would want someone to help if I was in that situation.”

The viral video was filmed by Chris Atkins who made the commute on Friday at midday. 

“The Muslim woman didn’t take any shit from him and really, really took him to task, very firmly and persistently,” Atkins said.

“In this day and age we are told how intolerant everyone is and all religions hate each other and there you had a Muslim woman sticking up for some Jewish children.”

The video prompted an outpouring of praise for Shuweikh who was dubbed a hero for standing up for the Jewish family. 

That lady is a special women," Broadcaster Suzi Perry said on Twitter.

"A Muslim lady going to the defence of a Jewish father and son gives me renewed hope for the future of this wonderful country of ours," another twitter user said.

Shuweikh said it was “so heartwarming to see the responses” however acknowledged she could not “take all the credit because a lot of other people were involved. 

“I would not hesitate to do it again,” she added.

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